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wa-mina l-ʾaʿrābi man yattakhidhu mā yunfiqu maghraman wa-yatarabbaṣu bikumu d-dawāʾira ʿalayhim dāʾiratu s-sawʾi wa-llāhu samīʿun ʿalīmun
Among the Bedouins are those who regard what they spend as a loss, and they watch for a reversal of your fortunes. Theirs shall be an adverse turn of fortune, and Allah is all-hearing, all-knowing.
— Ali Quli Qarai
Surah At-Tawbah – Verse 98
98 . “And of the Bedouins are those who take what they spend to be a loss, and they wait for calamities against you, on them shall be an evil calamity; and Allah is All-Hearing, All-Knowing.”
In this verse, the Qur’ān states that some of the Bedouins consider that what they spend in charity is as a kind of loss and a damage. They are hypocrites, of course, and they do not spend believably. They spend for protecting the outward aspect and in the form of hypocritical acts, so they know it as a loss for themselves. They do not believe in the rewards of the Hereafter.
Moreover, those hypocrites who lived at the time of the Prophet (S) waited for arriving some horrible calamities against the Muslims. They awaited the death of the Prophet (S) momentally, or that the Muslims be defeated and scattered so that they could make their inward aims manifest freely. This fact was proved after the departure of the Prophet of Islam (S) when some parties of those hypocrites turned away from Islam and apostatized. The verse continues saying:
The holy verse, after mentioning the expectation of the hypocrites, curses them and says:
Then it also continues saying:
That is, Allah hears all their words, and He (s.w.t.) is aware of all their secrets.